Setmanes
by VixenReborn
Summary: Zuko has been seen around the palace carrying a flower. Mai takes it upon herself to make sure Zuko hasn't finally gone crazy. Meant as Zukaang fluff, but mostly interaction between good friends.


"Zuko, I think it's time you tell me what's going on with the flower," Mai said in her usual stoic tone.

The prince turned Fire Lord chose not to even look up from the paper work he was finishing up. Mai had managed to catch him in his office right after a personal meeting with some of his advisers. He had found that a lot of people responded better to talking to him in a regular office setting then in a hall that was half set on fire. Some traditions like that one had been tossed out the window to ensure that everyone knew he planned to rule better then his forefathers. However, being in an office like this meant it was easy for people to find him and badger him. When it came to that, he usually did his best to just ignore them till they went away.

Mai though, was never one to give up. She moved herself to an over stuffed chair in front of the desk and sat down and stared at him. If it had been anyone else, they would have thought her face unchanged from how it always was, but Zuko knew better. Knew that she was set in not leaving until she got an answer.

He sighed heavily and stopped writing. He moved the papers he'd been writing up to one side of his desk and pulled a flower pot from the upper right hand corner toward the center. The small white pot had blue hand written letter that formed Zuko's name. The small flower pot contained a single blooming flower. Its petals shaped it like a throwing star, but its dark pink color contradicted its fearsome shape.

Mai thought she would try again by saying, "Some of the palace guards have been talking about it. Saying that for the last week you've been carrying around some flower-"

"Two weeks," Zuko interrupted.

"What?"

"Two weeks. I've had the flower two weeks," Zuko corrected.

The dark haired girl gave a sigh before trying again, "Whatever. That's not exactly helping your case. I'm just saying that the guards are talking about you showing up with some random flower-"

"Setmanes."

"Set what?" Mai asked.

"It's not just some random flower, its a Setmanes."

"Zuko, I'm not a gardener. You can't expect me to know that. I'm not the type to get flowers all the time so you can't think I'll ever know that," Mai rushed.

"I'm not a gardener either. You don't have to be a gardener to know the name of a plant Mai."

"What does it matter what it's named?" Mai questioned.

Zuko's hand reached out to the flower pot and fidgeted with it. Making the flower face in all directions before he finally answered, "The name has everything to do with this type of flower."

"Well, what does Setmanes mean?"

"It means weeks."

Mai couldn't stopped the puzzled look that came over her face. Zuko was certainly acting strange. His family did have a history of being crazy and she wouldn't put it past his family to keep carrying the genes, but she had known Zuko well enough to know that if he was going to carry something around and actually know the meaning of its name the way he did that there most certainly was some reason behind it. All that was left now was figuring out what that meaning meant.

"Who gave you the flower?" Mai asked.

"The Avatar did."

"Hasn't he been gone for like three weeks now?"

Zuko gritted his teeth before answering, "Two weeks."

That was all the knowledge that Mai needed before she pieced everything together. The plant had been a gift from Aang. No wonder Zuko had kept the thing close, going so far as to carry it with him through out the palace making the guards talk. With out Aang around to constantly bother Zuko, the new Fire Lord was probably bored out of his mind and tending to a flower was probably much easier then tending to the needs of the Avatar.

"So what? Once he gets back he gets his flower back then? Your just some plant babysitter?" Mai asked.

"No, it will be dead by then," Zuko told her.

"Are you planning to kill it off?"

"No. The Setmanes sprouts, blooms, wilts, and dies in a four week time period. The Avatar will get back when the plant dies," Zuko explained.

"So why don't you just kill it off now?" She asked.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought about it," Zuko admitted. Though he knew internally that most of the time he had considered setting flame to the thing was, because a part of him hoped illogically that if the flower died sooner then the actual four weeks if Aang would come back sooner. Despite knowing that, he still found himself often willing the plant to die faster just so Aang would quickly return.

"You could do it. I'm sure it's not like he is going to come back and ask the guards if you were taking care of it. He'd never suspect a thing. Besides, knowing him, I'm sure he just handed it too you as he jumped on Appa's back and left without even telling you anything about it." Mai said.

Zuko's half pained expression told her that she had actually stumbled on the truth of the matter.

"Oh so that was how it did go. How'd you find out about the flower then?"

"I asked the palace gardener. He told me that the Avatar has a whole patch in the garden that he's taken to grow a variety of them. Most of them grown in intervals," Zuko explained.

"Does this mean that every time he has to go away to deal with Avatar business your going to be seen with some flower? The guards are really going to be talking then," Mai assured him.

"I really hope not," Zuko said, but Mai couldn't help feeling that it lacked conviction.

"Since your not crazy, I'll go alert the palace to stand down. Good luck in the death of your flower." Mai said leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Zuko pulled the flower pot closer to him. He let his fingers linger over his hand painted name, picturing what Aang must have looked like when he painted it. A smile touched his lips. Weeks had passed since he had left and weeks still had yet to pass before he would get back. The flower made for a very poor replacement, but Zuko had to admit, it was better then spending all that time alone. With a sigh he pushed the pot back to its original place before Mai arrived and pulled his paper work back to him. He'd have to work extra hard to make sure Aang got back that much quicker.


End file.
